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Richard Wilkins
Richard is Nine's Network Entertainment editor. On TODAY Richard presents daily features and interviews from right across the world of showbiz. He's interviewed the cream of the international entertainment industry - from Madonna to The Rolling Stones, and from Andrea Bocelli to Nigel Kennedy. Richard came to Nine to present MTV, which set a new benchmark for music television in Australia. While he steered MTV through its six year run and made guest appearances on MTV US and MTV Europe, his career expanded in other directions with magazine columns, syndicated radio shows, TV specials and exclusive interviews with the biggest names in the world. Before his media career , Richard was a teacher's college graduate in New Zealand, majoring in English and Music, and it was the music side that took over. From an early age a promising career as a classical violinist was dashed when his trained ear first heard the strains of the Beatles' Love Me Do. Richard Wilkins (or Richard Wilde, as he was then known) became one of New Zealand's top pop stars and Polygram signed him to a world-wide deal. In 1980, he brought his band Wilde And Reckless to Australia and released some singles and a six track EP and toured with Grace Jones. Richard left the music stage to work behind the scenes as Promotions and Marketing Manager for Sydney radio stations 2-DayFM and 2UW, and then he moved to television at Nine. But it's not all work for Richard. He's a tireless supporter of numerous charities including the Starlight Foundation and Spastic Centres . He was awarded the Variety Club's Ricky May Heart of Variety Award for his continuing support of humanitarian causes. He's also a keen environmentalist and a proud father. Career In 1980, he brought his band Wilde And Reckless to Australia and released some singles and a six track EP and toured with Grace Jones. He left the music stage to work behind the scenes as Promotions and Marketing Manager for Sydney radio stations 2Day FM and 2UW (which is now known as Mix 106.05), when he then moved to television. Wilkins was the original host of Australian series of MTV when it was broadcasted on Nine, hosted a game show called Keynotes in 1992. Keynotes at the time was a summertime replacement for Sale of the Century. In 1999 he hosted the Australian version of Entertainment Tonight and for almost ten consecutive years since inception (minus the 1999-00 event), hosted the Sydney New Years Eve telecast. Wilkins files daily reports on the Today Show , presents the Nine Network's coverage of The Academy Awards, and covers the Oscars and Golden Globe red carpets and other special events. On 16 April 2007, on Today, he was paid tribute for his 20 years service to the Nine Network and footage of his involvement over the years was aired. On 7 July 2007, Wilkins presented at the Australian leg of the Live Earth concert. Reporting live on the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson on 26 June 2009, Wilkins erroneously reported the death of actor Jeff Goldblum on Today, although later in the program this was verified as a hoax. This was later joked about by Jeff Goldblum and Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report.